1. Insect Microbiology Insect Pathology
Prof. Abdelwahab A. Ibrahim
Entomology Department, Faculty of Science, Benha University

2. COLLECTION OF PATHOGENS
Prof. Abdelwahab A. Ibrahim
Insect Microbiology
COLLECTION OF PATHOGENS
LOOK FOR DEAD INSECTS
Collect dead insects in sterile glass or plastic containers, paper bags or envelopes.
Leave them open for (3-4) days so that the cadavers dry out.
DO NOT dry artificially. DO NOT leave in the sun.
These air dried specimens can be stored for several days.
NEVER store infected specimens in alcohol. If necessary, store specimens in a refrigerator at a maximum temperature of 5°C.
In the field, ants may rapidly remove cadavers. So, although finding cadavers is the best way of collecting pathogens, if none can be found in the field, you must collect live insects. A small proportion of these may be infected. Disease incubation in live insects can take up to (3) weeks, so insects should be kept in cages. Stress (crowding, high humidity) may lead to the appearance of disease.
LIVE INSECTS
Collect live insects in the field.
Keep the insects alive and feed them.
Observe the insects. You may see insects behaving abnormally.
Signs that disease may be present:
Not feeding, poor coordination, jerky movements, excessive grooming.
Insects may also climb up high on the plant, expose themselves or hide.

3. PRELIMINARY IDENTIFICATION (external symptoms)
Prof. Abdelwahab A. Ibrahim
Insect Microbiology
PRELIMINARY IDENTIFICATION (external symptoms)
look at the insect.
External symptoms may tell you which kind of pathogen is responsible for death.
VIRUSES
Infection by viruses mainly occurs in the larval stage.
Larvae become pale and flaccid . Dark in color after death.
Baculovirus infections: body contents became liquid.
Larvae may hang by their prolegs. May ooze white fluid.
Infected larvae are sometimes smaller than healthy larvae.
FUNGI
All stages can be affected.
After death the cadaver is desiccated , never flaccid.
In soft-bodied insects the body is covered with fungal mycelium .
In hard bodied insects bands of hyphae grow between the integuments and mycelial strands grow from the orifices fixing the insect to the substrate .
Spores may form on the outside of the insect, but if the environment is very dry the fungus may not show on the outside of the insect.
Baculovirus infections
Entomopox virus. Note the chalky integument and gray cast over the normally clear hypodermis.

4. PRELIMINARY IDENTIFICATION (external symptoms)
Prof. Abdelwahab A. Ibrahim
Insect Microbiology
PRELIMINARY IDENTIFICATION (external symptoms)
BACTERIA
Larvae remain normal color.
After death darken to brownish-black. Often flaccid. Do not liquefy.
PROTOZOA
Larvae are poorly developed.
May become lethargic and collapse.
Death is usually from other causes than infection by protozoa.
NEMATODES
Can often be seen through the insect cuticle.
In rhabditids the body changes colour after death from cream to grey (Steinernema) or reddish (Heterorhabditis).

5. PRELIMINARY ISOLATION
Prof. Abdelwahab A. Ibrahim
Insect Microbiology
PRELIMINARY ISOLATION
VIRUSES
Place living diseased insect in a culture tube with sterile distilled water.
After several days inclusion bodies gather in a white layer at the bottom of the tube.
Centrifuge to remove any insect or bacterial cells. This partially purified virus can be used to inoculate healthy insects to confirm that it is a pathogen.
BACTERIA
Sterilize the host externally by dipping in 70-95% ethanol for several seconds.
Transfer to a 50% solution of sodium hypo chlorite for 3-4 minutes.
Rinse in three (3) changes of sterile distilled water.
Dissect the insect using sterile techniques.
Streak the body contents using a wire loop on to nutrient agar.
Incubate at 30°C for 24 hours.

6. PRELIMINARY ISOLATION
Prof. Abdelwahab A. Ibrahim
Insect Microbiology
PRELIMINARY ISOLATION
FUNGI
What to do with newly dead insects with no
visible external growth?
1 Incubate for several days at high humidity.
2 Observe for sporulation.
3 Mount spore structures on a slide in water, or use a specific fungal stain e.g. cotton blue in lactophenol.
What to do with insects with fresh external sporulation?
1 Take spores with a fine, sterile needle.
2 Streak spores onto several different agar media with antibiotics: tap water agar, potato carrot agar, malt extract agar.
3 Incubate at 20-25°C.
4 Examine all cultures daily with a stereoscopic microscope.

7. PRELIMINARY ISOLATION
Prof. Abdelwahab A. Ibrahim
Insect Microbiology
PRELIMINARY ISOLATION
FUNGI
What to do with insects which have been dead for a long time:
Surface sterilise the insect in sodium hypochlorite for several minutes.
Rinse in three (3) changes of sterile, distilled water.
Dissect internal tissues (usually replaced by fungal hyphae).
Streak spores on to several different agar media with antibiotics: tap water agar, potato carrot agar, malt extract agar .
Incubate at 20-25°C.
Examine all cultures daily with a stereoscopic microscope.
How to remove germinating spores:
1 Cut round the agar.
2 Transfer the block of spores to fresh media.
N.B. If you find prominent hyphae but not much internal desiccation this is probably an Entomophthorales infection. These are very difficult to grow on agar media.

8. PRELIMINARY ISOLATION
Prof. Abdelwahab A. Ibrahim
Insect Microbiology
PRELIMINARY ISOLATION
PROTOZOA
Examine the fat body, Malpighian tubules, gut epithelium or haemolymph using a phase contrast or bright field microscope. Mature spores should be easy to see. Use Giemsa stain if necessary .
It is easy to confuse spores of fungi with protozoan spores. HOWEVER, fungal spores will not usually be found in the internal organs.
NEMATODES
1 Take individual nematodes from the insect cadaver, or from a suspension of the internal contents.
2 Use a stereoscopic microscope and improvised needles: bamboo splinters, sharpened feather quills, toothbrush bristles, eyebrow hairs.
3 Place the nematode in a drop of sterile water on a slide.
4 Heat over a low flame for four to six (4-6) seconds.
5 Add formalin as a fixative.
6 Transfer nematode to a pre-heated mountant: lactophenol, glycerol in a cavity slide.

9. FURTHER IDENTIFICATION
Prof. Abdelwahab A. Ibrahim
Insect Microbiology
FURTHER IDENTIFICATION
VIRUSES
Occluded insect viruses are the most commonly found viruses.
1 Use a bright field or phase contrast microscope.
2 You should see the characteristic shining white (mono-refringent ) inclusion bodies .
3 Use stains such as Giemsa and Feulgen-Schiff to confirm presence of inclusion bodies.
4 Further identification of non-occluded viruses must be done using electron microscopy and serology techniques.

10. FURTHER IDENTIFICATION
Prof. Abdelwahab A. Ibrahim
Insect Microbiology
FURTHER IDENTIFICATION
BACTERIA
1 Before the insect decomposes, examine a drop of haemolymph under a phase contrast microscope.
2 If the bacteria are saprophytic you will see bacterial cells of different shapes and sizes.
3 If there are concentrations of bacilli-form cells this indicates the possible presence of an entomopathogenic bacterium.
N.B. Insect gut normally contains saprophytic bacteria. You must take care not to mistake these for disease-causing bacteria.
Bacillus thuringiensis: Good growth on nutrient agar, catalase* positive, crystal parasporal body present.
Bacillus popilliae: Little or no growth on nutrient agar, catalase*
negative, crystal parasporal body usually present.
Bacillus sphaericus: Spores are almost spherical. No crystalline parasporal body.

11. FURTHER IDENTIFICATION
Prof. Abdelwahab A. Ibrahim
Insect Microbiology
FURTHER IDENTIFICATION
FUNGI
Entomopathogenic fungi sporulate on the outside of the host insect under moist conditions and on the inside of the host when the environment is too dry.
Deuteromycete fungus: indicated by the presence of masses of powdery spores.
Beauveria spp.:white spores.
Metarhizium spp.:green spores. Prominent hyphal structures, often brightly coloured:
Ascomycete (sexual stage) or an asexual genera e.g. Hirsutella.
ENTOMOPHTHORALES
stout hyaline hyphae surrounded by halos of white spore deposits.
N.B. You must also use the microscope to confirm identification.

12. FURTHER IDENTIFICATION
Prof. Abdelwahab A. Ibrahim
Insect Microbiology
FURTHER IDENTIFICATION
PROTOZOA
It is essential to differentiate between saprophytic gut protozoans (flagellates, amoebae) which are not pathogenic, and microsporal infections which are pathogenic.
To do this, use the Giemsa stain to pick out polar filaments extruding from the spore - these are Microsporidia.
Watch out for the type of locomotor organelle and the size and structure of the spores.
NEMATODES
Mermithids: long, whitish, several times longer than the host.
Rhabiditid nematodes: small
Heterorhabditis spp.: insect turns red.
Microspordia
Nosema tractabile
Mermithids
Heterorhabditis

13. Prof. Abdelwahab A. Ibrahim
Insect Microbiology
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